The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 564 Enryakuji Temple

Minamoto no Asahi stepped through the gate of Enryakuji Temple.

“Li Miao’s injuries have not yet healed. He can barely manage positional warfare, but his movements will be restricted, and he won’t be very fast… It’s estimated that it will be at least an hour before he arrives.”

"That's enough."

Enryaku-ji Temple was the center of Buddhism in Japan. Even after excluding the monks who went to Toshodai-ji Temple to besiege Li Miao, the remaining monks were still bustling about and there was no sign of emptiness.

Upon seeing Minamoto no Asahi enter dressed in Shinto priest's robes, the monks immediately surrounded him, their eyes filled with hostility, their weapons clanging against the ground.

The lower-ranking monks were unaware of the collaboration between Shintoism and Buddhism; they only perceived Minamoto no Asahi as a provocative enemy and approached with weapons.

"You bastard, you are—"

Yuan Chaoliang smiled and flicked his folding fan.

laugh!
Blood blossomed, heads flew up, and a pile of headless corpses fell.

Before the surrounding monks could react, Yuan Chaoliang smiled kindly, flashed into the crowd, and instantly sprayed a rain of blood.

The monks fell down like straw.

In terms of killing speed, he wasn't much slower than Li Miao.

However, this was, after all, Enryakuji Temple. He had only been killing for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea when a roar came from afar.

"Asshole! Stop it!"

A palm print of true energy struck Yuan Chaoliang from afar. Yuan Chaoliang's eyes flashed, and he dodged it. He didn't care about the person who came, and turned around to slaughter the monks again.

"stop!"

Another loud shout rang out, and they were already close by.

An old monk crashed down from mid-air, punching Yuan Chaoliang on the head while still airborne. Before he even landed, the force of the punch knocked all the monks within a radius of several feet to the ground. The monks standing beside Yuan Chaoliang had their bones broken directly, and before they could even scream, the broken bones pierced their internal organs, causing them to vomit blood and die.

Yuan Chaoliang raised his fan and clashed with the opponent in mid-air.

Bang!
In an instant, the folding fan shattered.

Yuan Chaoliang took the opportunity to retreat, a trickle of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth—when it comes to head-on confrontation, few in the entire Central Plains martial arts world dare to compete with Shaolin, and Yanli Temple, which shares the same lineage as Shaolin, is naturally no exception. Even though their cultivation levels are similar, he still suffered internal injuries this time.

Fortunately, Buddhist traditions are not known for their light-body skills.

Yuan Chaoliang dodged several feet away, taking advantage of the moment before the old monk caught up, and prepared to regulate his breathing and heal his injuries.

Before he could finish exhaling, a shrill wind whistled behind him again, and four attacks—a palm strike, a fist punch, a knife strike, and a sword strike—were aimed at his back.

The Great Monument-Smashing Hand, the Mighty Vajra Palm!

Breaking the Rules Knife Technique, Compassionate Sword Technique!
Yuan Chaoliang barely managed to turn around, deflect the swords and block the fists, but was struck on the shoulder by a palm, causing him to vomit blood and fly backward.

"puff--"

Yuan Chaoliang was suspended in mid-air with nowhere to grab his strength.

At that moment, the old monk who had initially crashed down from mid-air also arrived below him, assumed a fighting stance, and punched him in the back.

Bang!
Yuan Chaoliang was hit squarely by a punch, his spine let out a painful cry, his ribs broke one by one, and he coughed up blood again in mid-air before falling to the ground.

Even though the old monk didn't intend to kill him, the punch still injured his heart meridian, from which he would be unable to recover for a while. He lay on the ground for a while before catching his breath, propping himself up with his hands, wiping the blood from his face, and weakly looking ahead.

Five people stood in front of him.

The old monk, along with four other monks who had used the crowd as cover to ambush him, had surrounded him. Swords and knives were clashed against his back. The old monk, fiddling with his prayer beads, walked up to him and used the back of his foot to lift his chin.

"Lord Palace Secretary."

The old monk asked expressionlessly.

"This old monk is very puzzled. Could you please clear up my doubts?"

Yuan Chaoliang coughed up blood. He was now powerless to resist, and the old monk insulted him by lifting his face with his foot, yet he still wore that kind smile.

"Master... cough cough, please speak."

The old monk asked slowly.

"What about the rest?"

He was naturally aware of the plan to encircle and annihilate Li Miao tonight.

Yuan Chaoliang laughed. "He's dead."

"Oh...then why didn't you die?"

"I escaped quickly."

The old monk shook his head.

"Lord Gongsi, don't force me to use any means against you. That would be unseemly for someone of your status."

He reached into his robes and pulled out a Gu worm. The Gu worm peeked out from his palm, sniffed, and then pointed its head straight at Yuan Chaoliang.

“Look, Lord Palace Attendant.”

The old monk threw the Gu worm in front of Yuan Chaoliang.

“You are covered in Liangxin’s blood, a lot of it.”

"You killed him, and then you fled back. You were dressed neatly and unharmed, so you obviously didn't fight the Heavenly Demon... From the beginning, your goal wasn't to kill the Heavenly Demon, but to obtain something or someone from my Enryakuji Temple, right?"

Yuan Chaoliang said with a smile.

"Couldn't it be that he was killed by Li Miao, and I ended up covered in blood?"

The old monk shook his head.

"Is there any point in making excuses now?"

He used the back of his foot to lift Yuan Chaoliang's chin upwards again, forcing Yuan Chaoliang to straighten his arms to barely support his upper body.

"We were enemies to begin with, and this is just a temporary alliance. I don't need to confirm your crimes before I can kill you; a little suspicion is enough, isn't it?"

Yuan Chaoliang nodded and smiled reluctantly.

"Right."

He straightened his upper body again.

"My lord, you're not stupid after all~"

The monk holding the sword beside him looked furious. He pressed his sword down and cut open the back of Yuan Chaoliang's neck.

"You are already a prisoner, how dare you be disrespectful to your master!"

Yuan Chaoliang obediently lowered his head.

The old monk waved away the sword-wielding monk and said calmly.

"Now that you, Lord Palace Attendant, understand your predicament, could you tell this old monk why you deliberately slaughtered the monks to lure me here?"

"Is it that Shintoism wants to use your life as an excuse to start a war, or do you have some kind of method that only activates after you die, or perhaps..."

"The Shinto Church wants to weaken us through the Heavenly Demon, and then turn their blades to crush us first? Could the Shinto Church's experts already be outside the temple?"

Yuan Chaoliang faced the ground and laughed.

"No, no, no, Master, you've misunderstood."

"I--"

Before he could finish speaking, the sword-wielding monk keenly sensed that Yuan Chaoliang was channeling a wisp of his inner energy towards his chest. Without the slightest hesitation, he slashed his sword directly at the back of Yuan Chaoliang's neck, intending to decapitate him!
He had no curiosity about Yuan Chaoliang whatsoever. Regardless of Yuan Chaoliang's purpose or how much of a threat he might pose, killing him would at least ensure that there would be no further losses tonight!

The sword slashed down, and bounced back with a clang.

Flesh and blood tore open, revealing the stark white spine beneath. Although it looked extremely gruesome, a sword strike that would have been enough to split mountains and shatter rocks had only managed to cut a fingernail-sized gash in the vertebrae.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

With four thuds, the four Celestial Warrior monks, excluding the old monk, fell to the ground, their eyes wide open, unable to utter a sound. The surrounding monks also fell in waves, like straw.

The only remaining standing monk closed his eyes and clasped his hands together.

"I see."

Yuan Chaoliang leaped up from the ground and unleashed a palm strike.

Snapped.

The old monk's head flew off.

(End of this chapter)